Removing your engine at home.....

[reesestewww]

Curious to know what people use at home, to support the engine as they lower it from the car. Jacks, engine hoist….things of that sort??? Pics would be cool. Trying to get an idea of what to purchase for the "at home" garage.

thanks

[Rot 911]

Two methods most employed by the DIY'ers, including me, use either floor jack with lift range of at least 19" with your choice of wood or rolled up newspaper for padding on jack cup and engine lowered onto a furniture dolly or get the motorcycle jack on wheels from Sears. Either way you will have to have the rear of the car at least 24" off the ground as measured from the bottom of the torsion bar cover.

[marcesq]

Check here:

LeSchander Engine Drop . . . Follow up

[targa80]

I have some pics of my last engine drop on my restoration web page. The dolly I built is a "U" shaped dolly so the jack can slide in and out.

[Doug Zielke]

I used a furniture dolly and the m/c jack. This combination worked well. The motor was always very safe and secure.

[IROC]

One thing I did was removed my rear bumper (since it's fiberglass and can be removed in about 10 minutes). This greatly reduced the height the car need to be raised in order to get the engine out.

It's been so long since I removed my stock bumper, I don't remember how difficult that is, but removing mine made it much easier

Mike

[cowtown]

The stock bumper's not bad at all to remove. Just disconnect the rubber bellows from behind (I think they are 8mm nuts on studs) and then take off the large bumperettes by unbolting from behind the bumper (three 13mm nuts on each on my car). Be careful not to pull too hard on the wires going to the license plate lights. Then you have the bumper nuts exposed. It's Well worth doing in my opinion.

[78targa]

I don't believe you need to remove the bumperettes to get the bumper off of the car. For the SC's you need to get to the nuts holding the bumper to the bumper shocks. These nuts are located behind the bumper trim to the outboard side of the bumperettes. You will need to loosen one side of the trim by removing the small plug and using a philips screwdriver to remove the holding screws.

As for the other pieces, I removed the bellows on the bumper side. Don't forget to disconnect the wiring to the license plate lights!

[82SC]

get "SUV" jack and stands from your loacl suto shop...this will get the car nice and high

I made a engine dolly with some 4x4; casters; 90degree brackets; plywood (I made it a three sided "U" so the jack could clear the rear part of the dolly)

I never needed to remove the bumpers

[gustaf]

I actually removed the rear wheels, lowered the car to the point the engine was resting on a furniture dolly, unbolted the 4 mounts and lifted the car high enough that I could roll the engine out.
I also removed the rear bumper for additional clearance which make a big difference.
This way you avoid the concern of trying to balance the engine and tranny on a jack as you lower them from the car.
-Dave

[IROC]

Originally posted by gustaf
I actually removed the rear wheels, lowered the car to the point the engine was resting on a furniture dolly, unbolted the 4 mounts and lifted the car high enough that I could roll the engine out.
I also removed the rear bumper for additional clearance which make a big difference.
This way you avoid the concern of trying to balance the engine and tranny on a jack as you lower them from the car.
-Dave

Neat idea. How did you lower the car, though? One side at a time?

Mike

[Rick Lee]

It goes a lot faster when you have a floor jack on each side of the car and someone manning each one. We then used cinder blocks covered by 2x10's to put the jack stands on.

[911pcars]

Richard,
We'd like you and your helpers to be around for a long time. Please replace the cinder blocks with something more substantial. Cinder blocks are only structural when they're filled with concrete and rebar.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[John Brandt]

Once you get the motor on the ground you can position the jack on the crossmember section right under the opening for the input shaft. it's a very strong area and without the weight of the engine you will not overstress it.
put a piece of 2x4 on the jackpad and you can lift it high enough to roll out the engine-no need to fool with the two jack twostep, or bumper removal and you can do the whole thing by youself.

I am assuming your front wheels are on the ground BTW

[Wayne 962]

Removing the bumper is a very good idea, and reduces the height that you need to lift the car...

-Wayne

[Rick Lee]

Originally posted by 911pcars
Richard,
We'd like you and your helpers to be around for a long time. Please replace the cinder blocks with something more substantial. Cinder blocks are only structural when they're filled with concrete and rebar.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

Thanks, but we don't get under the car when jacking is going on and we lower it back down on the jack stands, sans cinder blocks, usually put the wheels back one once the engine is out. We don't have too many earthquakes in these parts either.

[gustaf]

IROC - Mike,
I did have someone helping me so we could let the car down squarely.
-Dave

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

All this talk about jacks and how high they can get the car...when I remove the engine, I lift the back of the car with a chain hoist/comealong. I can get it as high as I want.

Stephan

[IMONBOOST]

All this talk about jacks and how high they can get the car...when I remove the engine, I lift the back of the car with a chain hoist/comealong. I can get it as high as I want.

What do you attach the hoist to on the car?

[Benson]

Originally posted by targa80
I have some pics of my last engine drop on my restoration web page. The dolly I built is a "U" shaped dolly so the jack can slide in and out.

Hello Pat of 2002 with the Targa80 complete rebuild.

Thanks for the web sight and pictures. Neat rotisserie[B]!
Wow! I admire you. What an under taking.

Your the man,

Benson
EliasViking@juno.com